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(No Model.)

W. O. BARNES.

SNOW EXGAVATOR.

No. 384,602. Patented June 1-9, 1888.

WITNESSES: fifim INVENTOH ATTORNEY NrrE PATENT OFFICE.

XVILLIAM O. BARNES, OF PA'IERSON, NEW JERSEY.

SNOW==EXCAVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 384,602, dated June 19, 1888.

Application filed February 14, 1888. Serial No. 263,981. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM O. BARNES, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Excavators or Machines for Removing Snow or other Matter from Railway-Tracks or other Surfaces, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to an improved fanwheel adapted for use in a class of machines for removing snow from railroad-tracks, such as is shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States, numbered 375,132, issued 011 the 20th day of December, 1887, to one George Cox, consisting of a car carrying on its forward end a casing partially inclosing a fan-wheel, said fan-wheel being mounted on and revolving with a horizontal shaft placed at right angles to the direction ofthe railand described in the said Letters Patent, numbered 375,132.

The object of my improvement is to provide the fan-wheel of such a machine with knives so placed that in case the snow to be operated upon be packed or in a solid condition the said knives willfirst detach, cut up, and disintegrate the snow before it is struck by the fiat surfaces of the vanes of the fan-wheel. I attain this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective view of a fan-wheel embodying my invention; and Fig. 2, a vertical section, also in perspective, of an excavator provided with one of my improved wheels.

Similar letters refer to si milar parts th roughout both views.

(t represents the horizontal shaft, to which is secured the fan-wheel B. Fan-wheel B is composed of arms or spokesb b, 850., carrying vanes o o, 850., and of rings mm, which serve to brace the spokes b b, 800., and also to carry the knives k k, 850.

The knives k k, &c., are strips of metal fastened to the circumference of the rings m m, and so arranged that there is one knife placed in front of each vane at a SllffiGlGIll] distance therefrom to admit of the snow escaping between the back of the knife and the front of the following vane.

In operation the wheel B is mounted at the forward end of a car, 0, Fig. 2, by means of suitable bearings for crankshaft a. The fanwheel is partially inclosed by a casing, A, which is provided with a discharge-spout, g, and deflecting-plates d (1, so that when the fan-wheel is rapidly revolved by means of an engine carried on car 0 and coupled to crankshaft a, and when at the same time the car is pushed forward into the snow, the snow is first cut up or disintegrated by the knives k it. As fast as the snow is disintegrated by a knife k, the loosened or detached snow is engaged by the following vane o and carried around on vane 22 until it reaches the discharge spout y, where the snow is thrown upward through 9 and, striking the deflecting-plates (Z (Z, is de flected toward one side of the machine.

I do not limit myself to the use of rings m m to carrythe knives k it, but the knives may be carried by another set of spokes or by any other suitable means. Neither do I limit myself to any particular conformation or shape in the construction of these knives.

I am aware of and have referred to the improvement in excavators invented antecedently to this my invention by George Cox and covered by the said Letters Patent, numbered 375,132. I therefore do not claim any part of the mechanism therein described; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an excavator, a fanwheel having on its periphery a series of longitudinal knives, each knife being placed a suflicient distance in advance of a vane so as to leave room between the back of the knife and the front of the 5 vane for the escape of the snow or other material, substantially as shown and described. 2. In an excavator fanqvhech the combination of spokes I) Z), vanes v 1;, rings m m, and

knives 7; is, substantially as shown and described.

WILLIAM O. BARNES. Witnesses:

CHAS. E. BARNES, D. B. VAN BUREN. 

